(PhysOrg.com) -- A prototype robot spy "ornithopter," the Nano-Hummingbird, has successfully completed flight trials in California. Developed by the company AeroVironment Inc., the miniature spybot looks like a hummingbird complete with flapping wings, and is only slightly larger and heavier than most hummingbirds, but smaller than the largest species.

The Hummingbird's bird-shaped body is removable but it gives the bot an uncanny resemblance to a real hummingbird. The vehicle can hover and maneuver just like the bird.

The ornithopter can fly into buildings under the control of an operator flying the spybot with the help of a feed from its tiny video camera. The prototype is capable of flying at speeds of up to 18 km/h (11 mph) and weighs 19 grams, which is about the same as an AA battery.

Manager of the project, Matt Keennon, said it had been a challenge to design and build the spybot because it “pushes the limitations of aerodynamics.” The specifications given to the firm by the Pentagon included being able to hover in an 8 km/h wind gust and being able to fly in and out of buildings via a normal door.

The spybot was developed for the US military's research arm, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The hummingbird appearance is intended to disguise the bot, although it would look decidedly out of place and would attract attention in most places in the world since hummingbirds are not found outside of the Americas.

.....The current model is a prototype and more development is required before any decisions are made on its deployment. Keennon said he expected the flight time to improve as the spybot develops, and said he envisaged it could be used for reconnaissance purposes in around a decade. He also said the final version is unlikely to look like a hummingbird, which is rare even in parts of the US, and he thinks a sparrow would be a better choice.

Physorg.com has the video of the maiden flight of this spy-hummingbird.

While Wisconsin's public union workers, supported and aided by the White House and National Democratic Party (and of course, unions), protest to retain their "rights" to taxpayers' money, the unarmed anti-government protesters in "modern and moderate" Bahrain are being killed by the army under the order from the "modern and moderate" sovereign, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Tanks, firearms, tear gas - supplied by the US and the UK.

The unarmed protesters in Libya are being killed by the security forces under the order from the strongman Muammar al-Gaddafi. Gaddafi's security forces just killed 15 people who were attending the funeral of protesters who were killed by the same security forces during the past week.

The Western leaders are calling for "restraint" from their favorite (maybe not so with Gaddafi, but he's been getting along quite well these few years), moderate rulers in these countries, just like they did in Tunisia and Egypt.

More and more, it is becoming clearer. It is almost surreal in the 21st century, but the world seems indeed becoming a two-class society: "Takers" who take away money, wealth from others through taxes so that they get paid for their work; and "Makers" who pay those taxes to local, state, federal, governments so that "Takers" get paid for their work and get well taken care of once they retire.

In the case of the US, "Takers" extend all the way from the occupants of the White House, Congress, courts, to federal, state, local government workers, police, firefighters, public school administrators and teachers, public librarians, and private contractors, big and small, who get a chunk of business from the "government" - federal, state, local.

Never mind if "Takers" may have their jobs guaranteed (in case of Wisconsin public union teachers) in this unprecedentedly severe job market , and on average "Takers" earn much more than "Makers" who have to support them.

Faces of "Takers": Wisconsin public union workers protesting against the WI governor's plan to limit their union's collective bargaining power, to have them pay more for their health care premiums, and have them contribute to their own pensions. These public union workers are protesting, claiming the governor's move will hurt kids. (How can she open her mouth that big without dislocating her jaw?)

Faces of "Takers": The Egyptian counterpart of Wisconsin public union teachers - well-fed, well-clad police demonstrating to demand better pay, while claiming it was not their fault if they beat up and killed anti-Mubarak protesters because they weren't given the proper training. They also claim they are the friends of the anti-Mubarak protesters. The photo is from February 14 Al Jazeera Live Blog. I believe they were later routed out by the protesters.

Faces of "Makers": Americans who still have jobs in the private sector, who pay taxes to local, state, and federal governments so that the public employees get their jobs, salaries, benefits, and pensions and health care for life, and who have finally decided enough is enough and risen up against "Takers"....

MacIver News Service – For the first time in history, the average annual compensation for a teacher in the Milwaukee Public School system will exceed $100,000.

That staggering figure was revealed last night at a meeting of the MPS School Board.

The average salary for an MPS teacher is $56,500. When fringe benefits are factored in, the annual compensation will be $100,005 in 2011.

The accompanying video says:

$56,500 average salary is more than double the city's average salary;

It is more than the median family income of $42,950; and

MPS graduation rate is 68%, compared to 90% statewide.

A poster on Yahoo's stock board who lives in Wisconsin says that the state employees in Wisconsin do not contribute to the pension fund, and pay only 0.5% of health care premiums. (BTW, trolls defending the public union teachers in Wisconsin suddenly appeared on the board for a double-short financial ETF... Fun to watch.)

Hasn't this guy been saying education is the top priority of his admin, or something close to it? Over and over again?

So what does he do? He goes full in on Wisconsin's anti-union (or so dubbed by MSMs) law, unleashing his community organizing apparatus, Organizing for America, so that teachers will call in sick and/or take a union-provided bus to participate in demonstrations instead of educating kids in schools.

Public school teachers are skipping schools and waving signs like "Silencing Teachers Hurts Kids". What the hell does that mean? If the teachers union cannot negotiate the pay increase above the inflation rate and they have to pay more for their pension and health care premiums, more in line with the private sector workers (who are lucky enough to have such benefits), and if in exchange they have no furloughs and layoffs, that hurts kids? How?

Kids are hurting alright, I can tell when I read the comment like this from a University of Wisconsin sophomore activist Max Love:

“The quality of our institutions would suffer if this bill passes,” Love said. “This is a student cause, and we’re seeing a lot of people who really care about this issue.”

The quality of the institutions suffer from students like him, who blindly recites the party line (anything to do with education, other than increasing teachers and teachers' pay, is bad), to whom protecting the collective bargaining power of the teachers union morphs into "a student cause".

In coordination with the National Democratic Party and public unions, Obama's organization, Organizing for America, has been working the phones and sending out messages via Internet social sites to bring public school teachers of the state to demonstrate against the governor's budget plan. It clearly coordinates with left-leaning alternative media sites on the Internet to identify the demonstrations with those in north Africa and Middle East, two of which has toppled the existing despotic regimes.

For the snippets of MSMs and alternatives glorifying the public union protests, go to this post at Washington's Blog.

(Even Max Keiser says, rather incoherently, that it's all about people rising up against the banksters. Huh?)

Who's paying for these teachers?

Who's paying for Obama?

They are so oblivious it is almost pitiful.

The ruler of the regime (Obama) organizes and unleash the demonstrators, and we are supposed to cheer them on as if they were the anti-government protesters in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Algeria.

It looks to me like the equivalent of those pro-Mubarak demonstrations orchestrated by the Mubarak regime that quickly fizzled in Egypt. With the solid support from the White House and the Democratic Party, I wonder how long these demonstrations in Wisconsin will last.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Nicolas Kristof's latest is from Bahrain. With some detached disbelief and sadness, he reports on the government's brutal treatment of the peaceful demonstrators in a modern, moderate country like Bahrain.

Well, all I can say is that Hosni Mubarak was a "moderate" leader for the West, unless you are Mitt Romney who thought Mubarak was a "monarch-type" person.

As a reporter, you sometimes become numbed to sadness. But it is heartbreaking to be in modern, moderate Bahrain right now and watch as a critical American ally uses tanks, troops, guns and clubs to crush a peaceful democracy movement and then lie about it.

This kind of brutal repression is normally confined to remote and backward nations, but this is Bahrain. An international banking center. The home of an important American naval base, the Fifth Fleet. A wealthy and well-educated nation with a large middle class and cosmopolitan values.

To be here and see corpses of protesters with gunshot wounds, to hear an eyewitness account of an execution of a handcuffed protester, to interview paramedics who say they were beaten for trying to treat the injured — yes, all that just breaks my heart.

Read the full article at the link. But here are the last paragraphs, which I could sense his welling anger:

In the hospital mortuary, I found three corpses with gunshot wounds. One man had much of his head blown off with what mortuary staff said was a gunshot wound. Ahmed Abutaki, a 29-year-old laborer, stood by the body of his 22-year-old brother, Mahmood, who died of a shotgun blast.

Ahmed said he blamed King Hamad, and many other protesters at the hospital were also demanding the ouster of the king. I think he has a point. When a king opens fire on his people, he no longer deserves to be ruler. That might be the only way to purge this land of ineffable heartbreak.

It looks like Wisconsin is indeed resembling Egypt, except in a bad way - members of the ruling class running away to a resort....

Part of the ruling class of the state - Democratic State Senators - have fled the state in order to avoid the capture so that they cannot vote on the bill that would restrict the collective bargaining power of the public unions. Apparently, they got on a bus and crossed the state line, and they are in Rockford, Illinois at the Best Western Clock Tower Resort.

What a joke. And the cynical MSM in the US paints it like it is a popular uprising against a despot.

From an even more cynical (well, who isn't, these days?) Zero Hedge, quoting AP:

The farce over the Wisconsin anti-union vote has just passed into the surreal. According to the AP, democrat lawmakers, who are firmly opposed to voting on the bill which is said to already have majority support, and who have been boycotting the vote by being absent from the state capitol, have now escalated and patriotically left the state. The reason is that while the vote can not take place without at least one Democrat being present, the police had been sent out earlier, with orders to sequester the democrats. The democrat response: run away. As the AP reports: "Senate Republicans can't vote on the bill unless at least one Democrat is present. Police could be dispatched to retrieve them, but it was unclear if they would have the authority to cross state lines." So to all who were expecting the latest iteration of members of the executive class to run away (with or without gold) to come from Africa or the Middle East, will be disappointed: it was in America's very own back yard.

A Wisconsin state senator says the 14 Democratic lawmakers who are boycotting a vote on a controversial anti-union bill have left the state.

Sen. Jon Erpenbach says the group wants to force negotiations over the Republican-backed bill, which would strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights.

Erpenbach told The Associated Press that he and his colleagues had left Wisconsin, but he would not say where.

He said the plan is to slow down the bill because it's "tearing the state apart."

We don't get what the big deal is here: just call Von Bernankestein's hot line and get him to deliver $10 billion, or trillion, it's all the same these days. These are the Chairman's favorite kinds of inbound calls. After all, the dollar needs all the help it can get to get to zero way ahead of everyone else. It is everyone's patriotic duty to go bankrupt and to demand bail outs from our money printing syndicate. Lastly, not doing so is racist.

So what are these Dem Senators, public union workers in Wisconsin, and the Prez of the USSA upset about this bill? According to another AP article, under the bill:

state employees' share of pension and health care costs would go up by an average of 8 percent.

Unions still could represent workers, but could not seek pay increases above those pegged to the Consumer Price Index unless approved by a public referendum. Unions also could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized.

In exchange for bearing more costs and losing bargaining leverage, public employees were promised no furloughs or layoffs.

See that last sentence? No furloughs or layoffs!

In this day and age of semi-permanent unemployment and underemployment in the private sector, there would be no furloughs or layoffs for these public union workers in Wisconsin.

So, what are they complaining about, again?

I think public unions feel their very existence is being threatened, and therefore they are mobilizing the members to protest. Read the middle paragraph of the above quote; the bill would restrict their ability to force members to pay union dues and force them to hold annual votes to stay organized.

(Union officials must be envious of those Dem Senators spending time in Tilted Kilt Pub...)

Organizing for America, funded by President Obama, is spearheading the effort to defeat the Wisconsin bill on public unions.

State right, Mr. President. That means it's none of your business. Your business, by the way, is outlined in this old document, and it doesn't include meddling with state issues, not to mention setting up and funding an organization to attack states.

Well, you haven't worked a single day in your adult life working for a for-profit business where performance matters. For you, public union members are your friends, neighbors, colleagues, your world.

The police attacked the protesters - men, women, children - gathered on Pearl Roundabout in Manama, who were sleeping in their makeshift tents. Just like in Egypt, with the US-made and US-supplied live ammunition and vehicles.

The protests, started out as mostly a Shia demonstration to demand more equal treatment under the monarchy, have quickly swelled to include people of all religious beliefs. After the brutal attack by the king's police under the king's order, they probably don't quite care any more to preserve the monarchy.

The police attacked these people (photo from Al Jazeera Bahrain Blog):

He doesn't speak up for the protesters in Middle East, he doesn't speak up for the (once-)middle-class in the US, he doesn't speak up for the homeowners losing their homes to TBTF Wall Street banksters.

"Some of what I’ve heard coming out of Wisconsin, where you’re just making it harder for public employees to collectively bargain generally, seems like more of an assault on unions...."

"... public employees are your neighbors, your friends..."

That's right, neighbors and friends. And thanks to the mismanagement by the state and the local governments we, non-public-union members, are on hook to pay for their benefits FOR LIFE. (And don't get me going how much more these public union employees are getting compared to the private sector.)

Some compare the protests by Wisconsin's public union employees - teachers, firefighters, police - with the anti-government protesters in Egypt.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Hosni Mubarak and his family have moved a large part of their assets – guesstimated at between $20 and $70 billion - from European banks to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republics against personal guarantees from King Abdullah and Sheik Al Nahyan to block access to outside parties.This is reported by Gulf and West European sources. Tunisian ex-ruler Zein Al Abdain Ben Ali received the same guarantee when he fled his country and received asylum in the oil kingdom.

A Swiss financial source commented: "If he had any real money in Zurich, it may be gone by now."

According to debkafile's sources, the transfers took place on Feb. 12-13. Although a weekend when European banks are closed, high-ranking officials in Riyadh had their managers hauled out of home to execute Mubarak's transfer orders without delay.

The ousted Egyptian ruler was on the phone to Saudi King Abdullah Friday, Feb. 11, immediately after his vice president Omar Suleiman went on state television to announce his resignation and handover of rule to the army. Mubarak called it a military putsch conducted under pressure from Washington. He denied he had resigned or passed any powers to the army. "I had no idea Omar Suleiman was about to read out that statement. I would never have signed it or allowed it to be published," said Mubarak.

The Saudi king voiced understanding for the ex-president's plight and said the Riyadh government was under orders to meet any requests for assistance received from him.....

In another, earlier article, DEBKA says that Saudi Arabia has initiated a dialog with Iran, and that the Saudi king is extremely upset with Obama over the US handling of the situation in Egypt. The article cites unnamed sources who told DEBKA that the king was so upset talking to Obama on the phone on February 10 that he suffered a heart attack.

Over drinks at a bar on a dreary, snowy night in Washington this past month, a former Senate investigator laughed as he polished off his beer.

"Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail," he said. "That's your whole story right there. Hell, you don't even have to write the rest of it. Just write that."

I put down my notebook. "Just that?"

"That's right," he said, signaling to the waitress for the check. "Everything's fucked up, and nobody goes to jail. You can end the piece right there."

Nobody goes to jail. This is the mantra of the financial-crisis era, one that saw virtually every major bank and financial company on Wall Street embroiled in obscene criminal scandals that impoverished millions and collectively destroyed hundreds of billions, in fact, trillions of dollars of the world's wealth — and nobody went to jail. Nobody, that is, except Bernie Madoff, a flamboyant and pathological celebrity con artist, whose victims happened to be other rich and famous people.

Yup.

Ben Bernank's scheme to goose up the stock market is to benefit the top 5% of the population (including all these rich and famous people), while the most important asset (or what once was) for the middle class (or what's left of them) - homes - continues to fall in value.

As part of GOP's effort to cut $100 billion from the 2011 budget (which by the way was never passed by Congress), Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark, proposed an amendment to de-fund President Obama's telepromoter, although he pulled the amendment later.

...More than 400 amendments were filed Monday night. Among them were a proposal from Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., to eliminate funding for the president's Teleprompter...

Womack told Fox News Tuesday afternoon that he pulled his amendment because he wasn't able to get an estimate on how much it would save.

"I think we made our point," Womack said. "We're asking people to do more with less. And I think the president ought to lead by example. He is already a very gifted speaker. And I think that's one platform he could do without."

A very gifted speaker?

Where did he get that idea? Hasn't Representative Womack ever heard Obama speak without his beloved teleprompter? Obama can read English, that's for sure (unlike Bush); his teleprompters are indispensable for his reading.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

This blog has already warned you about fresh produce prices set to skyrocket in yesterday's post due to historic freeze and crop damage in Mexico. Here's another warning from a major food distributor in screaming ALL CAP LETTERS.

Adding to already rising food prices due to monetary inflation and weather related supply problems around the globe, one of the world’s leading food distribution companies, Sysco Corporation, is advising clients and their customers that the recent freeze across North America has significantly impacted growing operations in Mexico (as well as parts of the U.S.) leading to 80% - 100% crop damage:

ALL OF OUR GROWERS HAVE INVOKED THE ACT OF GOD CLAUSE ON OUR CONTRACTS DUE TO THE FOLLOWING RELEASE. WE WILL BE CONTACTING YOU PERSONALLY TO REVIEW HOW THIS WILL AFFECT OUR CONTRACTED ITEMS WITH YOU GOING FORWARD.

THE DEVASTATING FREEZE IN MEXICO IS WORST FREEZE IN OVER 50 YEARS…

THE EXTREME FREEZING TEMPERATURES HIT A VERY BROAD SECTION OF MAJOR GROWING REGIONS IN MEXICO, FROM HERMOSILLO IN THE NORTH ALL THE WAY SOUTH TO LOS MOCHIS AND EVEN SOUTH OF CULIACAN. THE EARLY REPORTS ARE STILL COMING IN BUT MOST ARE SHOWING LOSSES OF CROPS IN THE RANGE OF 80 TO 100%.

EVEN SHADE HOUSE PRODUCT WAS HIT BY THE EXTREMELY COLD TEMPS. IT WILL TAKE 7-10 DAYS TO HAVE A CLEARER PICTURE FROM GROWERS AND FIELD SUPERVISORS, BUT THESE GROWING REGIONS HAVEN’T HAD COLD LIKE THIS IN OVER A HALF CENTURY. THIS TIME OF YEAR, MEXICO SUPPLIES A SIGNIFICANT PERCENT OF NORTH AMERICA’S ROW CROP VEGETABLES SUCH AS: GREEN BEANS, EGGPLANT, CUCUMBERS, SQUASH, PEPPERS, ASPARAGUS, AND ROUND AND ROMA TOMATOES.

FLORIDA NORMALLY IS A MAJOR SUPPLIER FOR THESE ITEMS AS WELL BUT THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN STRUCK WITH SEVERE FREEZE DAMAGE IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY AND UP UNTIL NOW HAVE HAD TO PURCHASE PRODUCT OUT OF MEXICO TO FILL THEIR COMMITMENTS, THAT IS NO LONGER AND OPTION.

WITH THE SERIES OF WEATHER DISASTERS THAT HAS OCCURRED IN BOTH OF THESE MAJOR GROWING AREAS WE WILL EXPERIENCE IMMEDIATE VOLATILE PRICES, EXPECTED LIMITED AVAILABILITY, AND MEDIOCRE QUALITY AT BEST. THIS WILL NOT ONLY HAVE AN IMMEDIATE IMPACT ON SUPPLIES, BUT BECAUSE OF VERY STRONG BLOSSOM DROPS, THIS WILL ALSO IMPACT SUPPLIES 30 – 60 DAYS FROM NOW.

SOME GROWERS ARE MEETING WITH THEIR BOARDS RIGHT NOW TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEY SHOULD IMMEDIATELY RE-PLANT, HOPING FOR A HARVEST BY LATE-MARCH-TOEARLY-APRIL, OR WHETHER THEY SHOULD DISC THE FIELDS UNDER AND WAIT FOR ANOTHER SEASON.

Now might be a good time to hit the frozen foods (or fresh produce if you’ve got a vacuum sealer) aisle at your local grocery store and stock up on your favorite fruits and veggies, as there may be a severe supply crunch coming in the next couple weeks lasting perhaps several months. Why pay premium prices later when you can prepare yourself today, before the rest of the country gets wind of it.

I've been long 20lb rice bags (BTW, they are quietly disappearing, as per my personal observation), ramen noodles, tuna cans, bags of flour, sugar, salt. After reading this article, and seeing there was a bargain on roma tomatoes at a nearby supermarket (only 37 cents per pound, can you believe it?), I went and bought 5 pounds and froze them.

But on the other hand, if you believe vegetables are most nutritious and cheapest when in season (they are), then why do we even want summer crops like tomatoes and zucchinis and green beans in the middle of February?

(Well, just in case there are hurricanes and typhoons that will wipe out the summer crops during summer...)

Thanks Ben Bernank. Rising price is a sign of economic growth and rising wealth, as per your definition. Skyrocketing price is surely a sign of explosive economic growth.

Unlike in Egypt, the Bahraini army has no problem running over the protesters, who are Shias under the Sunni royal family rule. Shias comprise 66% of the population of this island kingdom, according to unofficial estimates. Bahrain is also the home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet.

The small country of Bahrain has promptly been displaced in the docket of revolutionary news, by recent developments in Iran. Yet the peace on the Saudi island neighbor is deteriorating as demonstrations escalate. According to ABNA.ir, "Tens of Bahraini Army jeeps surrounded the main square and attacked the protesters. Thousands of Anti-Government protesters filled a main square in the Bahrain capital due to discriminations posed by the government. Security forces at first appeared to hold back as the crowds poured into Pearl Square in Manama. After a while, in an extreme violent action the army released more than 50 war vehicles to the square, which resulted in shameless and violent attacks against the righteous freedom seekers. The dramatic move Tuesday comes just hours after a third protester died in clashes with police in the strategic Island Kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet." So while we wait for Al Jazeera or anyone else for that matter to start covering the protests in Manama (which could be a while: the world has suddenly developed revolution burn out), below we present a photographic update from the island nation.

But Tyler is wrong. Al Jazeera, who must be really "revolution-weary", has Bahrain covered. They have a video clip of the protests. Women in Islamic garbs are out there, raising their fists and waving signs, but unlike in Egypt they are not mixed with men-folk.

Anti-government protesters are continuing to occupy a square in Bahrain's capital, Manama, after two days of violent clashes left at least two demonstrators dead.

The protesters, seeking political reforms and better human rights in the kingdom, are refusing to disperse, despite a rare apology from the king over the deaths in police firing.

An Al Jazeera correspondent in Bahrain, who cannot be named for his own safety, said that thousands of protesters were occupying a major landmark on Wednesday morning.

"They are well organised and say that they will make Manama's Pearl Roundabout Bahrain's version of Egypt's Tahrir Square."

Our correspondent said that some of the protesters were planning a march from the roundabout, while others planned to remain and keep it occupied.

Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa made a rare television appearance on Tuesday in which he expressed his condolences for "the deaths of two of our dear sons" and said a committee would investigate the killings.

"We will ask legislators to look into this issue and suggest needed laws to resolve it," he said, adding that peaceful protests were legal.

... Al Jazeera's correspondent said that police took a very heavy-handed approach towards the protesters.

"Police fired on the protesters this morning, but they showed very strong resistance," our correspondent said.

from the one given by the military ("he will resign") to the defiant one that he would stay until September. The defiant speech was thus delivered on Thursday (2/10) last week, which brought an even greater number of people on the streets in Egypt in protest on Friday (2/11).

A heated argument broke out between Alaa and Gamal Mubarak, the two sons of the former Egyptian president, inside the presidential palace last Thursday during the recording of their father's last speech to the nation, Egypt's government owned al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Sunday.

Hosni Mubarak reportedly was supposed to announce his resignation in a speech that the military sent to him on Thursday but his son Gamal and senior officials in his entourage pressed him to deliver a different speech in which he insisted on staying in power until September.

During the recording of the speech Gamal and Alaa engaged in a heated argument that almost developed into a fight. According to the report, Alaa accused Gamal of dragging the country into corruption by helping his friends in the business industry climb the echelons of political power.

"Instead of working to help your father be honored at the end of his life, you helped damage his image this way," Alaa reportedly told his brother Gamal, who was the head of the ruling party's policies committee.

The argument was so loud that almost everyone in the palace heard them, the newspaper reported, adding that some senior government officials interfered to calm them down. ........

Monday, February 14, 2011

The first I've read so far among American analysts and columnists, who seems to be able to see without the clouded lens of "radical Islam", "Israel", "stability in Middle East", "war on terror", "military coup", and who seems to be sincerely congratulating Egyptians for what they've achieved so far and wishing them well for tackling the challenge that awaits them.

A Young Nation Triumphs as an Old Ruler FallsNo vulnerable dictatorship will survive this era.

.........

The revolution in part was a struggle between the ambivalent and the impassioned. Those who backed Mr. Mubarak for reasons of stability or personal gain knew they were supporting a system that was corrupt and oppressive. Their support made them complicit, morally compromised. They didn't want to be targeted. They weren't going to do interviews making the case for a dictator; they weren't going to take to the streets holding signs.

Those who opposed Mr. Mubarak had no ambivalence. They were happy to make their case. They were fighting for a dream of the future; they were fighting for superior principles. In modern revolution, passion trumps ambivalence.

Although I don't agree 100% with her characterization that this was the revolution led by and dominated by the young (I've seen enough visual evidence to the contrary - that it has been an all-age, all social-class, all-religion affair), I wholeheartedly agree with her assertion that this has been about "Egypt for Egypt"; it's not about the US (or the West) "losing" or "retaining" or "controlling" Egypt:

.........

Finally, it was Egypt's story, Egypt's drama, Egypt's decision about Egypt's future. What happens now will have implications for America, but the revolution was not about America, which appears to have been hard for some Americans to grasp. "America's invasion of Iraq prompted Egypt's freedom movement." That's one way to look at it, an odd way. "Did Obama Lose Egypt?" It was not his to lose. Egypt prompted Egypt's freedom movement. We are not the center of everything, the reason for everything.

And her last paragraph:

It is hard to know, if you're not Egyptian, what to make of this. Not only will the world be watching to see what Egypt becomes, what future its people will choose, but Egypt itself will be watching, and discovering what and who it is. A Hollywood director once said that a great Western is defined by this dynamic: "The villain has arrived while the hero is evolving." Egypt itself is evolving. May its people be heroes and do great things.

May they be heroes and do great things, just as they have been and they have done in the past 22 days.

President Obama released his budget this morning. Rather than focusing on Washington’s over-spending problem, the budget calls for higher taxes on families and small businesses to pay for even more government spending. Under the Obama budget, tax revenues will grow from 14.4% of GDP in 2011 to 20% of GDP in 2021. By comparison, the historical average is only 18% of GDP.

Tax hike lowlights include:

Raising the top marginal income tax rate (at which a majority of small business profits face taxation) from 35% to 39.6%. This is a $709 billion/10 year tax hike

Raising the capital gains and dividends rate from 15% to 20%

Raising the death tax rate from 35% to 45% and lowering the death tax exemption amount from $5 million ($10 million for couples) to $3.5 million. This is a $98 billion/ten year tax hike

Capping the value of itemized deductions at the 28% bracket rate. This will effectively cut tax deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, property taxes, state and local income or sales taxes, out-of-pocket medical expenses, and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A new means-tested phaseout of itemized deductions limits them even more. This is a $321 billion/ten year tax hike

New bank taxes totaling $33 billion over ten years

New international corporate tax hikes totaling $129 billion over ten years

New life insurance company taxes totaling $14 billion over ten years

Massive new taxes on energy, including LIFO repeal, Superfund, domestic energy manufacturing, and many others totaling $120 billion over ten years

Increasing unemployment payroll taxes by $15 billion over ten years

Taxing management capital gains in an investment partnership (“carried interest”) as ordinary income. This is a tax hike of $15 billion over ten years

A giveaway to the trial lawyers—not letting companies deduct the cost of punitive damages from a lawsuit settlement. This is a tax hike of $300 million over ten years

Add it all together, and this budget is a ten-year, $1.5 trillion tax hike over present law. That’s $1.5 trillion taken out of the economy and spent on government instead of being used to create jobs.

The “tax relief” in the budget is mostly just an extension of present law, and also some refundable credit outlay spending in the tax code. There is virtually no new tax relief relative to present law in the President’s budget.

BANGKOK (AP) -- Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors digested news that China's inflation rate remained elevated in January following a jump in food prices.

.... China on Tuesday said inflation rose to 4.9 percent in January, driven by a 10.3 percent increase in food costs. The January figure was an increase from December's 4.6 percent rate and close to November's 28-month high of 5.1 percent.

Beijing has hiked interest rates three times since October to cool rapid economic growth and inflation pressures, causing worry among investors who fear such measures could slow Chinese growth -- affecting the United States, Australia and other economies by cutting demand for their exports. But those worries were eased to some degree by January's inflation not being as high as feared.

"The increase was not as big as investors anticipated. This may show some of the measures implemented so far are already working, such as monetary tightening," said Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole in Hong Kong.

"Now markets are speculating that further tightening will not be as aggressive as once feared."

"This means China will continue to demand exports from the rest of Asia," Kowalczyk said.

China has adjusted the weighting of the components making the consumer price index and lowered the weighting of food at the start of the year, the state-run China Securities Journal reported Tuesday...

PORTLAND -- Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S.

The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium.

Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks.

"We've had to double and triple some prices and consumers come in and it's quite a shock to them," said Rusty Peake, GM of Food4Less in Southeast Portland.

And they did it one day before the release of January CPI data on Tuesday. Here you go, Ben, Timmy, and Barry. Learn from the Chinese! Dispense with the subtleties (substitutions and hedonics) and just do it.

(That what Mubarak and Ben Ali of Tunisia should have done to show the populace that there was no inflation in their respective countries.)

As we speculated earlier, China has just lowered the weighting of food in its CPI. The reason: the nearly 5% surge in food prices in the past 10 days. Turns out the US can still learn a thing or two about data manipulation from the Chinese...

From Dow Jones:

China has adjusted the weighting of the components making the consumer price index and lowered the weighting of food at the start of the year, the state-run China Securities Journal reported Tuesday, citing an unnamed official at the National Bureau of Statistics.

But the report quoted Xian Zude, chief statistician of the bureau, as saying that the new CPI statistical model will reflect changes in consumption and price levels more accurately, and won't result in a lower index reading.

The report came ahead of the release of January CPI data Tuesday morning. On Monday, state-run Xinhua News Agency quoted government economist Ba Shusong as saying that China's CPI for January may be lower than market expectations, without elaborating.

The median forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires survey of 12 economists was for January's CPI to have risen by 5.4% on year, up from December's 4.6% rise and November's 5.1% increase.

As a result of this pre-emptive manipulative action, expect to see a CPI lower than the 5.4% consensus when the number prints later tonight.

There are reports in social media sites and non-state Iranian news sites of clashes between protesters and security forces in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Thousands of demonstrators were marching on Monday on Enghelab and Azadi streets [which connect and create a straight path through the city centre], with a heavy presence in Enghelab Square and Vali-Asr Street, according to these reports.

Several clashes have been reported on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, with claims of some demonstrators being teargassed and others beaten and arrested.

She said up to 10,000 security forces had been deployed to prevent protesters from gathering at Azadi Square, where the marches, originating from various points in Tehran, were expected to converge.

...As night fell in Iran, the BBC reported that city lights were being turned off and that security forces were attacking protesters in the dark.

...Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, hailed the "courage" of the protesters, and pressed Tehran to follow Egypt's example and "open up" its political system.

Our correspondent in Tehran said that as far as Iran's leaders are concerned, Monday's protests "are not a reflection of what people actually want."

They believe these are small groups of individuals who have ulterior motives, they are a threat to national security and therefore the security forces are necessary to prevent them from becoming a threat inside the country," said Jabbari.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, informed President Obama on Monday that he is resigning from his position, effective March 30.

"I believe that it is the right time for me to step down and pursue other opportunities," Barofsky wrote in his resignation letter.

Barofsky said he has fulfilled his goals related to TARP since his nomination by former President Bush on Dec. 8, 2008. These goals, he said, were "to build a robust law enforcement agency to bring to justice to those who sought to profit criminally from TARP" and "to ensure transparency in the operation of TARP."

He said he also achieved the goal of providing "effective oversight over the government's decision-making process to minimize instances of waste, fraud and abuse."

He said that he had only one co-worker when he started the "SIGTARP" job and was "working out of a small office in the basement of the Main Treasury building." Since then, he said the position has grown to 140 auditors, investigators and attorneys, with offices in Washington, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Atlanta.

The team is now being led by Deputy Special Inspector General Christy Romero who will continue its mission.

Rep. Darrell Issa of California praised Barofsky for his "extraordinary commitment to public service" but he said the work that he begun is not finished.

Issa said the next Inspector General needs to demonstrate Barofsky-style "vigilance, courage and commitment" in dealing with the 150-plus TARP recipient banks that have missed their regulator dividend payments.

Issa also said the next Inspector General needs to deal with the Home Affordable Modification Program, which "has fallen short of its goal to preserve home ownership."

Barofsky did not say what he plans to do next.

Just don't go work for Goldman Sachs or PIMCO.

I don't know whether Ms. Christy Romero will become the next Inspector General or not, but we shouldn't be expecting much from her. Her resume shows she worked for Mary Shapiro and Christopher Cox at the SEC before she came to SIGTARP.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Who are they? Goldman Sachs. In your face, and people still refuse to see it.

Mish Shedlock linked a few articles in his blog post (2/13/2011) concerning the reach of the Vampire Squid sprawled on the face of mankind.

According to these articles,

An ex-Goldman is the leading contender for the next ECB president replacing Trichet.

Another ex-Goldman is the governor of Bank of Canada, the central bank of Canada.

Yet another Goldman becomes the SEC division head to oversee asset managers and hedge funds.

Mish's parting shot:

As I said a couple days ago, all we need now to complete the picture is for an ex-Goldman employee to run for president of the United States and for another ex-Goldman employee to replace Bernanke at the Fed.

The Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual rite of passage for Republicans with an eye on the presidency, concluded over the weekend with Texas Rep. Ron Paul emerging as the winner of the gathering's 2012 straw poll.

But, sometimes winning can actually be closer to losing -- as in Paul's case - and losing (or at least not finishing in the top few in the straw poll) can mask a winning performance at the three-day convention.

because the drop was less than the forecast (which was between -2.0 to -2.4%). Nothing can drop the stock markets of the so-called developed countries any more. BRIC, without the exception of R, have been dropping while Dow, Nikkei, Dax, CAC, FTSE continue to levitate.

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japan's gross domestic product fell 1.1% in October-December on an annualized basis, the Cabinet Office reported Monday, beating forecasts but also marking the first economic contraction since July-September 2009, when the economy shrank by 1.2%. The GDP was expected to fall by 2.4% for the quarter, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey of economists, and was tipped to drop 2.0% by separate surveys from Bloomberg News and FactSet. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, GDP lost 0.3%, after growing 0.8% in the previous three months.

It sure looks like a sell-out to me, particularly when this guy, Stephen Elop, a Canadian who became the CEO of Nokia in September 2010, is a former Microsoft executive in charge of Microsoft Office products.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) -- Nokia Corp. will get billions of dollars from Microsoft Corp. to ditch its current smart-phone software in favor of Windows Phone 7, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said Sunday, in a defense of the deal.

Nokia, the world's largest maker of phones, and Microsoft announced their alliance Friday. Both investors and employees reacted with dismay: Nokia's stock dived 14 percent and Finnish employees used flex time to go home early.

On Sunday, a day ahead of the start of the Mobile World Congress cell phone trade show in Barcelona, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop told press, analysts and industry players that apart from the benefits of the alliance that were laid out Friday, Microsoft is paying Nokia billions of dollars to switch to Windows Phone 7.

"This is something I don't think was completely explained" on Friday, Elop said.

Elop said Finland-based Nokia had been courted by Google Inc. as well, which sought to convince it to use its popular Android software for smart phones. Microsoft's payments are a recognition that Nokia had "substantial value to contribute," said Elop, who until recently was a Microsoft executive.

Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft introduced Windows Phone 7 last year, on phones made by LG Electronics Inc. and HTC Corp., but has only captured a few percent of the smart phone market, according to analysts. Getting Nokia on board sets Windows Phone 7 up to gain a much bigger share of the market.

I don't know what Nokia's board was thinking when it picked him. He worked for three of the companies I most despise for having churned out (and still churning) not just defective and buggy but harmful products one after another to the tremendous productivity loss all around the world for decades: Microsoft, Adobe, and Macromedia. He was the last CEO of Macromedia who sold the company to Adobe. And that's why your Flash update almost always crashes your system.

If he had worked for the HP printer division in addition to these three companies, I would throw stones at him if I ever see him.

Next step for Nokia? Maybe this CEO is set to do what he did while at Macromedia: sell the company to Microsoft, while pocketing billions himself.

Again, who does Nokia's board serve? Digging around to figure out this almost self-destructive move at Nokia, I've found this from Phonearena.com (1/26/2011) [emphasis is original]:

Just a day before Nokia announces its quarterly and yearly results, some ground-breaking news about the company's CEO appeared on the Finnish daily Kauppalehti. The newspaper claims that Nokia's chairman, Jorma Ollila, started to look for a replacement to Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo as early as spring 2010. But the search was a mere formality as Ollila had already picked his favorite - Anssi Vanjoki, former VP of the Finnish company. Vanjoki was getting ready to step in as the company's head honcho when just a week before the announcement of the new CEO, ex-Microsoft Stephen Elop's name surfaced.

The report states that Espoo chairman Ollila was threatened by American investors to pick a man from overseas. Vanjoki quit almost immediately after it was announced that Elop will be the new chief executive officer.

So the board serves "American investors", who demanded Nokia install this Canadian working for Microsoft. Who are the major American investors of Nokia?

Ha! Of course he did, and now we know the wishy-washy response of the Western leaders, most notably from the US, over the past 18 days was to give Mubarak long enough time to hide as much wealth as possible. A just reward, I suppose, for having been a good boy for 30 years for the West and their allies in Middle East.

Egypt: Hosni Mubarak used last 18 days in power to secure his fortune (2/12/2011)

Hosni Mubarak used the 18 days it took for protesters to topple him to shift his vast wealth into untraceable accounts overseas, Western intelligence sources have said.

The former Egyptian president is accused of amassing a fortune of more than £3 billion - although some suggest it could be as much as £40 billion - during his 30 years in power. It is claimed his wealth was tied up in foreign banks, investments, bullion and properties in London, New York, Paris and Beverly Hills.

In the knowledge his downfall was imminent, Mr Mubarak is understood to have attempted to place his assets out of reach of potential investigators.

On Friday night Swiss authorities announced they were freezing any assets Mubarak and his family may hold in the country's banks while pressure was growing for the UK to do the same. Mr Mubarak has strong connections to London and it is thought many millions of pounds are stashed in the UK.

But a senior Western intelligence source claimed that Mubarak had begun moving his fortune in recent weeks.

"We're aware of some urgent conversations within the Mubarak family about how to save these assets," said the source, "And we think their financial advisers have moved some of the money around. If he had real money in Zurich, it may be gone by now."

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

Along with commentary on day's financial news, it also provides links to the sites with financial and economic news, market data, stock technical analysis, and other relevant information that could potentially affect the financial markets and beyond.

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